If you start out with an idea next step you really want to know first is what is Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Wondering why? Because your first goal is to prove the product you design is the product your customers desire. Otherwise, there are no reasons to build for years an idea that is unclaimed to users.

Too many developers making startups with an idea of the product, they believe customers need. Spending months, even years, polishing their own product without showing it to an audience. And they fail. And it is a fair story because they don’t speak to their own audience to determinate how much people are interested in their product.

What is MVP?

Lately, MVP has become the popular strategy in application development fields. The original concept was coined and defined by Frank Robinson in 2001 and was popularized by Steve Blank, and Eric Ries. But nowadays each of experts has his own sight on this concept as well as the definition for it.

The minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least efforts.

Eric Ries

I have long defined the minimum viable product as the smallest possible product that has three critical characteristics:
people choose to use it or buy it;
people can figure out how to use it;
We can deliver it when we need it with the resources available – also known as valuable, usable and feasible.

Marty Cagan

the minimum feature set (sometimes called the “minimum viable product”) is:
1) a tactic to reduce wasted engineering hours (code left on the floor)
2) to get the product in the hands of early visionary customers as soon as possible.

Steve Blank

More about MVP

Anyway, release and gathering analytics data from an MVP is surely less expensive than release end-product with full feature kit. That is why it is less risky, especially if a product would fail because of assumptions mistake. Despite that MVP also needs to make market analysis before.

In other words, MVP is the core of a future app.

So, an MVP should include only the main features that are required to provide the core idea of a future product to the users. No more. This often deploys to limited target audience also known as early adopters in the case of 3 main reasons:

They are more likely to provide feedbacks.

Early adopters are more forgiving and tolerant of bugs and undone things.

Those testers are able to see the full picture of end-product from MVP prototype.

Meantime, even MVP should be attractive to your audience. Simple design and comfortable UI and UX is highly preferable because it should not be ugly even if it is just a prototype.

Moreover, it will make you sure about mistakes and weaknesses of your idea, while no one leaves test because of too complex UI or poor UX.

Summary

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a product that contains only core features set standard design and good UI/UX. It is built to prove application idea, and deploy the product to the customers to test key assumptions about interactions with it and gauge people’s reactions.

Mvp

Poc

Start-up

Responses

Login to add comments on this post.

The views and opinions on the member contributed areas on this website in no way reflect the opinions of The Gleez. The information contained on this website may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Gleez.com.